


everything has a boiling point, what's yours?

by TheSecretLifeofaFangirl



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: (right away), Angst, M/M, Peter is pissed, Peter's POV, Post-Season/Series 02, Short, bringing up juno's issues, but he's totally valid, fite me, or at all?, so peter doesn't forgive juno, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 10:45:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19828534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSecretLifeofaFangirl/pseuds/TheSecretLifeofaFangirl
Summary: Peter and Juno have been avoiding each other, until one night, when everything between them explodes, for better, or for worse.





	everything has a boiling point, what's yours?

Ever since their reintroduction, Peter and Juno had been tiptoeing around each other, a miraculous feat on a ship this small. Neither wanted to bring up the looming thing hanging in the air between them any time they were in a room together. And they didn’t know how else to interact, so they let it go on, unsaid. Buddy noticed it, of course; Buddy notices everything. But she stayed out of it, knowing better than to meddle. They both did their job, so she had nothing to worry about. Buddy noticed but knew better. Vespa noticed but didn’t care. Jet noticed but was too preoccupied to do anything. Rita noticed…something but doesn’t give advice beyond “He’s a sneaky fella, that Swann, I tell ya’. He’s up to no good, I can feel it.”  
And so nobody says anything, and it goes on, unspoken, lurking behind every corner, waiting to explode.   
And of course eventually, it does.  
Peter can’t sleep. He struggles with his eyes closed for hours before he finally gives up. Restless, he paces the length of the ship. He focuses on the soft hum of the engine and the even softer whispers of Buddy and Vespa. When this does nothing to relax his mind, he lets his stomach lead him to the kitchen. Jet keeps it locked down during the day, but at night, it’s easy access to any skilled lockpick. Peter slips in without any trouble and heads for the refrigerator, not looking for anything in particular. He fixes himself a sandwich and begins to eat, when he hears a crash. Then, “shit!”   
Peter finds Juno kneeling on the ground, trying to clean up a broken beer bottle. “Let me help you.” And without another word, Peter grabs paper towels and helps dry the mess, mindful of the sharp pieces of glass scattered across the floor.   
“Thank you,” Juno replies softly, unsure. “I’m not drunk,” he adds. “It just slipped.”  
“Of course Juno.” Peter’s voice is sincere.  
“What’s keeping you up?”   
“Oh, this and that. My body aches but my mind, well, it never rests.”  
“I bet it doesn’t. What’s on your mind?”  
“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Peter’s flirty and mysterious, just like nothing has changed. Except…  
Juno takes a deep breath. “Peter…”  
“Yes, Juno?” Peter is not sure he’s ready for what Juno’s about to say.  
“I’ve thought about you practically every day since then. You’ve even been in my fucking nightmares. And I realized…I made a mistake with you.” Juno takes a step forward. Their faces are an inch apart.   
For the first time in his life, Peter can’t seem to keep his heart from beating like a racehorse. He averts his gaze, unable to look into Juno’s big brown eyes, so earnest and intense.   
“Peter” Juno repeats his name, and he meets his eyes. Juno leans forward, ever so slowly. His lips brush Peter’s.  
For a moment, Peter is ready to forget everything in the past year. To lose himself in Juno Steel once more, but-  
“No, Juno.” Peter pulls away.  
“What’s wrong?”  
“This. Us. You. I can’t do this.”  
“I don’t understand.”  
“What don’t you understand, Juno? You hurt me, and I can’t just get back together like it’s nothing.”  
“I’m sorry, Nureyev-“  
“No, you don’t get to apologize. You can’t make this okay.” Peter doesn’t know where this anger is coming from. “I trusted you. I told you my name – something I don’t tell anybody – and you made a promise and I believed you and you left.” Peter doesn’t care if he wakes up the whole ship. This has been boiling up inside of him for so long. “I woke up in that motel room and you were gone. Without even a note. I thought you had been kidnapped, or worse. It was ages before I realized that you chose to leave me, like some one-night stand you regret in the morning.”  
“Nureyev, I didn’t mean-“  
“No. I opened up to you and you left me alone in a motel room without saying goodbye. You didn’t even say goodbye.” His voice broke on the last word, but he refused to let his tears fall and allow Juno to see his weakness. “You mean a lot to me, Juno. You meant a lot to me. I loved you. But I won’t let you break me open again. You don’t deserve that right.”  
“Would it matter if I told you why I left?”  
“I have a fairly good idea. You can’t survive without a vendetta. A way of blaming someone else for your problems. That’s why you ran straight to Ramses O’Flaherty. You are determined to punish yourself no matter who else gets hurt in the process. You were almost happy and it scared you, because if you’re happy then you’re not suffering. Am I close? You just have to be a martyr, and who cares if you screw up some people along the way, right?”  
“I had to fix my home,” Juno said lamely.  
“And you did a swell job of that, my friend. Helping Jack Takano nearly enslave the entire city. Well done. You really made a difference.”  
“I’m sorry, Nureyev. That’s all I can say.”  
“It’s not enough, Detective Steel. It will never be enough. You can’t fix this. We’re broken.”

**Author's Note:**

> this is probably gonna be a one-shot, but if you like it and want to see it continue, comment and let me know.


End file.
